Designing Dual-functionalized Gels for Self-reconfiguration and Autonomous Motion.

ABSTRACT: Human motion is enabled by the concerted expansion and contraction of interconnected muscles that are powered by inherent biochemical reactions. One of the challenges in the field of biomimicry is eliciting this form of motion from purely synthetic materials, which typically do not generate internalized reactions to drive mechanical action. Moreover, for practical applications, this bio-inspired motion must be readily controllable. Herein, we develop a computational model to design a new class of polymer gels where structural reconfigurations and internalized reactions are intimately linked to produce autonomous motion, which can be directed with light. These gels contain both spirobenzopyran (SP) chromophores and the ruthenium catalysts that drive the oscillatory Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ)

SUBMITTER: Kuksenok O 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5386209 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature